Portable silo



March 18, 1930. s. D. RUTH 1,751,250

PORTABLE SILO Filed June 29, 1928 Patented Mar. 18, 1930 umrau STATES SAMUEL D. RUTH, 0F BEATRICE, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR TO THE JOHN H. VON STEEN COMPANY, OF BEATRICE, NEBRASKA, A CORPORATION OF NEBRASKA PORTABLE SILO Application filed. June 29,

My invention relates to portable silos and the present embodiment is in the nature of an improvement on the portable silo described in my prior Patent No. 1,656,954, issued January 24:, 1928.

One of my objects is the provision of a joint between the cylindrical sections of fencing of. such form that the sections are more securely held together, that they are more easily united and that the silo as a whole will be more stable.

.Another of my objects is to provide the lining material with a reinforcing strip which makes itpossible to more easily apply the lining to the silo and which makes a firmer joint in the assembled silo.

Havingin view these objects'and others which will be pointed out in the following description, I will now refer to the draw- :ings, in which Figure 1 is a view in perspective showing the inner side of the silo with the door construction and the telescoping relation be tween the sections, the figure being broken away to disclose the relation of the reinforcement for the lining to the fencing. I

Figure 2 is a sectional view of thedoor on the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a detail view showing the -method of securing the vertical slats of the two sections together at their overlapping portions.

Figure 4' is an enlarged view of a portion of the silo wall showing particularly the construction of the lining with its reinforcement and showing also the relation between the lining and the fencing. I

The silo door is formed between two vertical posts 10 having ladder rungs 11 secured jto the outer side thereof. These posts 10 are preferably anchored at the. lowerends in the ground. The outer wall ofthe silo consists of a section of fencing 12 of cylindrical form and having the ends of the section secured to the posts 10 in the manner shown in Figure 2. For this purpose the posts are preferably rounded on their inner vertical edges and the ends of the fencing are secured to the posts by means of nails or other suitable fastening means. The door,

of the section 12 so that the lower 1928. Serial No. 289,280.

FICE

several other forms of doors may be used for this purpose, all as described in my prior patent.

In the construction of thepresent silo as distinguished from that of the prior patent,

the cylindrical sections of fencing have decreasing diameters from the lowermost section to the uppermost section. As shown in Figure 1 the section of'fencing 12 has a diameter which is slightly smaller than that end portion of the section 12 section 12. In assembling the sections it is only necessary to secure some or all of the sectlons together at their overlapping ends in the manner shown in Figure 3. This construction is important because it enables the builder of the silo toassemble the silo very easily and to obtain more secure jointsbe tween the sections. Greaterstability naturally follows from the fact that the base of the silo is larger than any portion above the 7 base.

In order to make the silo substantially waterproof, I employ building or roofing paper or other suitable flexible material for closing the spaces between the slats of the fencing. The edges of the adjacent sheets are in overlapping relation and the action of the silage is such that theseoverlappin'g edges.

will become cemented. .In assembling the silo these strips of roofing or building paper are suspended from the top of a section before the next higher section is placed in position. In the prior construction no special means were utilized for securing the strips of paper to the slats and I have therefore provided will slide .into the.

sheet metal strips as shown at 14 and 14* which greatly facilitate the securing of the strips of paper and-which furthermore protect the strips of paper'from damage. These strips of reinforcing metal. be in either of two. forms as shown. at 1 1 and 14 in Figure 4. The strip 141 extends sli htly vabove the edge of the lining paper 13 and at one end it terminates short of'the edge of the lining paper. The upper portion of the strip 14 is provided with a. plurality of apertures whereby the strip of lining paper may be secured to the fencing by means of wire. The vertical edges of the lining paper are also overlapping as shown in dotted lines at the right in Figure 4: and for this purpose the reinforcing material terminates short of one of the lateral edges so as to provide overlapping space. The reinforcing strip 1 1 differs from the strip 14 only in that its upper edge is flush with the upper edge of the lining paper. While the form of strip shown at 14? is my preferred form, either form may be employed. In both cases the reinforcing stripis formed from any suitable sheet metal such as that commonly known as tin which is riveted or othewise secured to the stripsof lining. This metal is sufficiently flexible so that it can readily be forced into position in curved form on the inner side of the silo and it is sufiiciently stiff to protect the strip of lining material both when assembling the silo and in shipping the material for the silo.

The silo may be built in any desired diameter and to any desired height, the diameter being determined largely by the rapidity with which the silo is to be emptied and the height being determined largely bythe amount of silage necessary for the seasons feedingrations. Inbuilding the silo the posts 10 are first erected if it is desired to have a door for the silo. If only a single post with a "ladder is desired, the post is first placed in position. The silo may then be built on the surface of the ground but if it is desired to have. a concrete or wooden platform, the platform should be built before erecting the walls. The bottom section 12 of the wall is then set in position and its ends are nailed to the posts 10 as indicated in Figure 2. WVhenthere is no door the fencing is merely arranged in cylindrical form and the meeting ends are 7 I wired or otherwise secured together. After the bottom section 12 has'been placed 1n position and its ends secured, the lining 13 is placed in position in the manner shown in Figure 4:. After thebottom'section 12 has been lined the section 12 may be placed in position with the lower ends of its slats se-' cured to the upper ends of the slats of the section 12. The lower ends of the slats of the section 12' overlap not only the lower section but they also overlap both the linin and its reinforcement so that whenthe strips 1?) of the lining are applied to the. section 12, the lower ends of the strips 13 will overlap the portions at the upper ends of the strips 13 where they of the silage. Theerection of the silo to the desired height is then continued in the same manner as with the first two sections.

The erectioniof the silo requires no especial skill and it is my object to supply the necessary materials in the most convenient form for building the silo. The fencing material of which the outer walls are built is available in 'any desired lengths but if the become cemented under the action desired diameter is known, the strips of fencing may be supplied in lengths required by the diameter of the silo. The lining material is preferably packed and the metal strips are of great advantage'in protecting the lining during transportation. The main purpose of the metal strips, however, is to facilitate the application of the lining strips and to form a betterbond at the joints. It is understood, of course, that the reinforcing strip shown at 14* is my preferred form and the one shown at 14 is merely illustrative of one of the many forms of reinforcement which could be substituted for the strip 14*.

The silo is particularly useful to tenant farmers and to farmers who require greater flexibility in silo capacity than that afforded": by the permanent silo. The requirements on the farm vary from year to year depending largely on the extent'of the feeding operations and on the amount of material available for silage. The present silo is not intended to take the place of the permanent silo as permanent farm equipment but it admirably supplements the permanent silo in that it takes care of the requirements which are'in excess of the normal. lVhen not in use, the material may be stored in a small space and itis available on short notice. The capital in vestment is not great so that the storage of the silo over a season or two does not represent any serious loss as is the case with an idle permanent silo. The deterioration in some permanent silos, as in wood silos which, dry out when empty, is not present in the above described portable silo since all parts can be packed away under shelter when notin use. e f

Having thus described my invention in such full, clear, and exact terms that its construction and operation'will be readily understood by others skilled in the art to which it pertains, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: r I

1. A silo wall including a pair of cylindrically arranged sections of fencing having vertical slats, said cylindrical sections being lid positioned one above the other, a lining of relatively impervious material for each of said sections, said lining having reinforcing 1 2. In a portable silo, a plurality of cylindrical sections adapted to be placed in I superposed relation and consecutively decreasing in diameter from the bottom section upwardly and adapted to overlap at their adjacent ends, an impervious lining carried by 

